Making and passing successful counterfeits sounds like so much work. Why not just work instead?

lightningrose
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2014-09-01T23:26:59Z —
#3

The joy and satisfaction of being self employed?

newliminted
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2014-09-01T23:29:24Z —
#4

Getting on welfare is so much easier.

lamaranagram
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2014-09-02T01:27:00Z —
#5

I only use reputable counterfeiters that have five star ratings on yelp.

AcerPlatanoides
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2014-09-02T02:14:53Z —
#6

newliminted said:

Getting on welfare is so much easier.

Certainly easier than climbing down off a high horse.

pomfelo
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2014-09-02T03:17:13Z —
#7

I've done cash auditing for a heavy volume cash company, and I've seen a lot of counterfeit bills over the years. About 95% of them are very poorly done fakes of smaller denomination bills. (The smaller bills have fewer security features.) The number one indicator of a false bill is the texture. That'll catch most of them.

And a note. I've found a lot of even the newer bills stop fluorescing colors after what seems to be little wear and tear. Or at least under most affordable (<$200) devices. That's pretty much all denominations.

tl;dr dudes got brought down by one of the idiots spending a fake 50 at Hungry Jack's (our Burger King). Further busted when trying to exchange counterfeits for real US dollars at a currency exchange place, where they presented a 50 that was purple. Come on crims... if you've gone to the effort of making convincing counterfeits then obey the rules: don't spend the money yourself and proof your fucking wares before spending them!

Looks like they did a decent job otherwise, though I'm confused why the cops would release a picture of the printer that was allegedly used to make difficult-to-detect counterfeits. Are they inviting further attempts?

Roland DG LEC-300 printer

jhbadger
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2014-09-02T05:37:46Z —
#9

Particularly since you'd be competing with the North Koreans, who 1) are experts at counterfeiting and 2) can "employ" imprisoned dissidents for literally nothing.

Although from the comments I was amused to read that there are fluorescent strips in real 5 and 10 dollar bills. I knew of their existence in 50s and 100s, but it is interesting that they would bother with such low denomination bills. Is there a serious problem with counterfeiters working on 5s and 10s?

SmashMartian
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2014-09-02T05:43:17Z —
#10

jhbadger said:

Is there a serious problem with counterfeiters working on 5s and 10s?

Previously... on 24 AMC's The Walking Dead Game Of Thrones BoingBoing...

Three men have been convicted of forging &pound;1 coins. The London Police Detective Inspector even got all quippy about the sentencing ("These three men are organised criminals who were intent on undermining the UK monetary system.

dobby
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2014-09-02T07:35:19Z —
#11

Is there really anything in the US like the old welfare where they give out money? I think only SSA disability even comes close and that takes years and specialized lawyers. I think there is only food stamps, the workfare one chance thing, and maybe remnants of section 8 housing.

Boundegar
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2014-09-02T09:14:02Z —
#12

jhbadger said:

Is there a serious problem with counterfeiters working on 5s and 10s?

I have asked the same thing and been assured it's a real problem. I suppose it goes hand-in-hand with depressed wages, that it would actually be worth the effort and risk to counterfeit a box of fives. Would anybody do that if they could earn $100,000?

manybellsdown
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2014-09-02T13:57:52Z —
#13

Well, and also I think people are less likely to be suspicious of a small bill. A $100 can net you back change in real bills but will also be more closely inspected. Nobody looks at a $5.

Shane_Simmons
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2014-09-02T14:03:42Z —
#14

Not really; back in the 90s, Clinton and Congress worked together to end welfare "as we know it". So people started getting kicked off of welfare...and quietly diagnosed with disabilities.

Now, where I live, people claim that there's loads of able-bodied people on disability, who are just unwilling to work. When you start talking to some of these employers, though, you find out something in a hurry: they're trying to do crap like "hire" guys for $11/hour as a 1099 (contracted labor). Those guys will be lucky to net $5/hour. They "make" a lot more on disability than they do as a contracted laborer.

The "funny" thing is, some of those people that gripe about the people on disability are the first to get angry if you talk about situations like income inequality. You'll get accused of class envy. But when you try to pin them down on what they think is holding them down, they'll point to the welfare queens. Yeah, people who barely pay any taxes are being held down by people on government assistance. It's the weirdest sort of class envy I can think of, really, where lower-middle-class thinks that poor people are lucky duckies.

And I fear what potential reform would do, because I have a feeling it will hurt people like my uncle, who, after two major strokes, really isn't fit for any kind of work at all.

manybellsdown said:

Well, and also I think people are less likely to be suspicious of a small bill. A $100 can net you back change in real bills but will also be more closely inspected. Nobody looks at a $5.

Bingo. When I was a cashier years ago, we would check the $50 and $100 bills, but rarely anything else unless they felt funny.

kid_entropy
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2014-09-02T14:31:14Z —
#15

By adding the fluorescing strip to the lower denominations it helps to identify bills that have been bleached and forged into higher values. I think the strip is placed in different locations in the bill depending on its value.

OtherMichael
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2014-09-02T14:44:26Z —
#16

Boundegar said:

Making and passing successful counterfeits sounds like so much work. Why not just work instead?

I have an art proposal in mind; anybody want to help me write up a grant-request?

We're going to to get lots of 5 dollar bills, bleach them, and replace then with counterfeit 1(one)s!